Odyssey
by plains of asphodel
Summary: Tsuna, a weak youkai, runs away from home and finds new companions in Hibari, a scary exorcist, and Yamamoto, a cheerful swordsman. But Tsuna's past can't stay away forever, and when it catches up with him, he finds himself going down a dangerous road. AU
1. Chapter 1

Title: Odyssey

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.

Summary: Tsuna is a weak youkai who runs away from home only to meet the famous-for-his-scariness exorcist Hibari and the way-too-cheerful swordsman Yamamoto, who, surprisingly, become his new companions. But Tsuna's past can't stay away forever, and when it catches up with them, he finds himself and his two new companions walking down a dangerous road.

AN: Okay, a new project of mine! Sorry that I haven't updated my other story in so long…the next chapter has been sitting half-finished in my computer for ages, but I haven't mustered up the time and interest to finish it. I'll try, I promise, but I had to get this out of my head. There's no set plot yet, so updates might be irregular.

* * *

Chapter One: A Narrow Road

The dark forest seemed a perfect setting for all sorts of grotesque and nightmarish creatures, with its thick canopy of leaves shutting out all sunlight, the gnarled trunks of ancient trees strangled with vines and roots choked with rotting foliage. A pungent, metallic smell of something suspiciously like blood permeated the air; a heavy mantle of stifling silence swallowed every whisper of wind. Shadows skulked and shifted at the least expected moments, giving the strange impression of fantastic beings concealed beneath the leaves.

In this setting, the small, thin figure that trudged through the thick underbrush seemed extremely out of place. It was a boy, or at least what appeared to be a boy (it was nearly impossible to be sure in these woods, where youkai lurked and illusions abounded) dressed in the unassuming attire of a peasant, head bowed and long brown hair obscuring his eyes.

He was following a small path, no more than a gap that wound between the trunks of the trees. His pace was quick, quicker than expected for such short legs, almost a run. The swift pattering of his feet, although muted by the soft dampness of the leaves, was nevertheless the only sound in the silence. His breath was coming in short gasps from lungs burning with the exertion, but he showed no sign of stopping, even though the place he was fleeing was days behind him.

Suddenly, he stumbled over a rock or a slight dip in the road (or maybe one of the shadows had reached out and tripped him). The slip sent a shudder through his thin frame, and he could barely keep himself from falling. In that instant, a pair of wide brown eye, opened in surprise, could be seen from beneath the brunette hair.

He stopped to catch his breath for a few moments, wishing that his body didn't tire this easily. it would have been a lot easier to just stop, he mused, but he quickly shook the thought from his head. He wasn't going back; he had decided this the moment he left _that_ place. The moment he escaped. And though there were still a few people he regretted leaving behind, his decision stayed the same.

Behind him, something stirred in the underbrush.

Like a startled rabbit, the boy whipped around, scanning the bushes with wild, jumpy eyes. His mouth opened, as if about to give a yell of surprise, but he stopped himself at the last moment. It was not wise to make too much noise in this forest.

The bushes rustled visibly this time.

The boy's brown eye widened, filled with a panicked fear. He prayed, _Please let it be a cute little woodland animal_. A low growl that sounded like two pieces of granite rubbing together followed the movement of the bushes, and the boy blanched.

No such luck.

Very slowly, the boy started to back away from the bushes. As soon as he moved, the growl intensified, sounding almost painfully coarse in the silence of the forest. Something emerged from the shadows, which seemed to part in its way. The something was immense and black and covered in ragged fur, staring through red-rimmed eyes full of malicious intent.

It was a wolf, all bristled hair and yellow fangs, towering up to the edge of the trees and glaring at the boy with a look that promised a painful death by dismemberment. How it had hidden in the bushes with such a bulk was a mystery (one of the many that surrounded this forest), and one the boy was in no position to ponder.

There was no mistaking—it was a youkai. A low-level one that had yet to achieve a humanoid shape, but a youkai all the same. That meant it was dangerous, intelligent and, judging from the gleaming look in its bloodshot eye, hungry for human flesh. The wolf growled once more, and the air filled with the scent of its rotting breath.

A feeling of dread flooded the boy. It wasn't as if he hadn't steeled himself for a fight with a youkai here in this particular forest, but he also had not been expecting something this frightening, this powerful. He was not sure he could defeat it (but pretty sure that he would lose a limb or two before the fight was over).

_Useless._ He heard the familiar voice sound in his head, and he had to keep from flinching and looking around to make sure that Reborn wasn't actually standing next to him. Nevertheless, the voice still said the same things he knew the Reborn would have said, _You're better off dead, dame-Tsuna, if you can't even defeat a low-level piece of trash like this_.

The boy shook his head violently, as if trying to shake away the imagined voice. That youkai was so huge! He couldn't fight; he would definitely die. And useless as he may be, he still wanted to live.

The wolf gave a final growl of warning and leapt, heading straight towards the boy's head. He yelped and leapt back, narrowly avoiding a sweep of razor claws. The maneuver which allowed him to escape with nothing more than a few gashes in his clothes, also, unfortunately, ended with his graceless fall onto the ground, directly beneath the youkai wolf's head.

For a terrifying second, the boy found himself face to face with a mouthful of wickedly sharp wolf teeth. The teeth clenched together, as if in surprise, before opening again in a bite.

Again, the boy rolled out of the way in the nick of time.

"I don't care if I'm useless" he whimpered, leaping to his feet with inelegant but quick movements. "I'm not going back and I'm not going to die."

When the wolf made another lunge for its prey, it found its mouth stuffed with a fistful of wet leaves. With a grunt of surprise at the bitter taste and sudden cold, wet, sliminess, the wolf spat out the decoy with a large growl before glancing up to search for its prey.

But the boy was already disappearing into the underbrush, running for his life.

* * *

In another part of the forest, two more travelers were walking down another small trail. Both had hooded cloaks obscuring their faces, and both walked with a steady but purposeful step, completely at home among the silence and shadows.

Any ordinary traveler walking with such ease in a youkai-infested forest would have looked out of place, but the long, thin stick-like scabbard protruding at the side of one figure and the surprisingly cute-looking yellow bird perched on the shoulder of the other clearly showed that these two were not ordinary (that, and the fact that every few miles behind these travelers there was evidence of fights and the corpses of slain youkai). They seemed to exude an air of fearless confidence that kept any youkai but the stupidest away.

For a while, they walked in perfect silence, until a voice broke the silence of the stagnant air, "Ah, did you hear that?"

It was the scabbard-wearing traveler who had stopped mid-step to glance around curiously for the source of the sound. His cloak lifted enough to reveal a pair of brown eyes, kind but not soft, skimming the bushes with the sharpness of a katana edge.

"I heard nothing." Was the terse and testy reply.

"Eh, are you sure? Because I could have sworn that—Ah, wait up!"

His companion had not slowed in his pace or even looked back. The yellow bird happily chirped a taunt and flapped its wings to shift into a more comfortable position on his shoulder.

The two continued on at a steady pace for a few more steps before, "Hey, there it is again." the brown-eyed one said again. His hand twitched, reaching towards the hilt protruding from the sheath on his hip.

His companion twitched too, though it was clear from the set of his shoulders that indicated his was a twitch of annoyance rather than caution. He spun around, narrowing slanted blue eyes at his companion, and spoke through clenched teeth, "I said, I heard noth-"

But that was as far as he got, because at the next moment, a blurred object flew out of the bushes and crashed into him, sending them both tumbling off the narrow path and into the brambles. A yellow bird chirped in startled surprise as it flapped up to a safe tree branch.

"Hibari!" a shout of surprise from the remaining person.

A katana was suddenly out of its sheath and in his hand, its sharp edge gleaming brightly against a dull obsidian body. "Hibari! Are you okay?" he shouted again, peering into the gap in the bushes where his companion had landed. But the dense foliage obscured all view of the forest floor where they had landed.

"Hey, where are—"

He broke off abruptly, as if sensing something, and whipped around, katana held out in front of him. As it turned out, he was just quick enough to halt two rows of deadly fangs from sinking into his back.

The youkai wolf gnashed its teeth angrily against the blade, trying in vain to reach the one who wielded the sword. "It's not nice to attack from behind." The swordsman commented lightly, using the same tone as if he were greeting a friend. He neatly sidestepped a swipe from a paw as large as his head and shoved—sending the wolf tumbling backwards.

With a yelp of surprise (it was clearly not expecting to find anyone who could match the strength of its battle-hardened muscles and steel-shattering teeth), the wolf deftly twisted its body until it was on all four feet again. It looked up, ready to lunge again—only to see a flash of white, a katana blade descending in a graceful arc.

The sound of hot liquid pelting the leaves like rain, followed by the _shing_ of a sword reentering its sheath announced the end of that battle. The victor did not spend any time rejoicing in his triumph, but rather started to move through the foliage, a look of concern on his face.

"…Kyoya?"

In the branches, the little yellow bird chirped a reply. A second later, something came stomping through the bushes, and burst back out onto the trail with an angry growl. The swordsman's fingers twitched toward his sword again, until he saw that it was only his companion, looking livid enough to murder and dragging something behind him with one hand. Although his cloak was slightly torn and his hood had fallen off to reveal mussed raven hair, he looked otherwise unharmed.

"Ah, there you are!" the swordsman's worried look was wiped off by a relieved smile, "I was worried for a…second…"

He trailed off, silenced by a glare from Hibari. "I don't need your concern." The words were spoken vehemently, with a tone implying that argument would result in repercussions ranging from gruesome to fatal. "And if you call me that again, Yamamoto Takeshi, I will bite you to death."

"Ahaha," Yamamoto, obviously inured to such threats, responded with a sheepish laugh, "If you say so."

Hibari's toxic gaze abruptly turned away from the swordsman to the thing in his hand. It was, incidentally, the very thing that had knocked him off the road in the first place. The unfortunate object was a boy, clothes and skin torn and a look of wide-eyed terror in his soft brown eyes. A flicker of pain flashed through those eyes as Hibari tossed him down none to gently in the middle of the trail.

"Huh, who's this?" Yamamoto knelt down until he was face-level with the boy. He gave a reassuring grin, "Are you lost? What's your name?"

"Uh…" the boy opened his mouth to reply, only to be interrupted.

Hibari, still angry from the collision, lifted his right arm, where a metal tonfa glinted dangerously, "I'll bite you to death, herbivore."

The boy gave a yelp of fear, trying to scoot backwards, away from the (in his eyes) homicidal maniac out for his blood. It was just his luck, he though, closing his eyes and bracing himself, that he would escape the wolf only to be bitten to death by a scary stranger.

"Maa, maa, Hibari," Yamamoto intervened at the last minute, grabbing onto the tonfa that was about to descend on the boy's head and holding it still with a surprisingly strong grip, "There's no need to bite him. I'm sure it was an accident."

Hibari frowned and swung his left arm, also wielding a steel tonfa, towards his head. The attack was expertly parried by a sheathed katana, and the right tonfa was released as Yamamoto quickly backed away, dragging the unfortunate and unintentional instigator of the entire affair by the collar.

"What do you think you are doing, herbivore?" Hibari demanded with thinly veiled anger, but he made no further move to attack.

Yamamoto released his grip on the boy's clothing as soon as he saw that they were no longer in danger from being smote by tonfa. "That was close." He commented.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Hibari spat.

"Ah, well I couldn't just let you hit him, poor kid. He's probably traumatized already from the wolf incident and doesn't need anything else done to his head."

Hibari froze and stared at Yamamoto for a long while, as if he were trying to decide whether to ask if the wolf youkai had smacked him in the head, or simply bite him to death for such an offense. The offender in question stared back, a slightly apologetic smile on his face (and smiling under the smoldering gaze was quite a feat in itself), but no intention of backing down.

The boy, on the other hand, looked, if possible, even more terrified than when he was being chased by the wolf. He certainly felt so. His eyes kept flicking back and forth between the dead corpse of the wolf, Yamamoto, who wore few splatters of youkai blood, and Hibari, who looked as if he were about to burn down the forest around him with his eyes alone.

"Didn't you notice?" Hibari's voice was flat with disbelief.

"Eh?" Yamamoto looked around wildly, as if he expected another youkai to jump out at them any second, "Notice what?"

Hibari's blue eyes flitted towards the boy on the ground at Yamamoto's feet, meeting for a second a pair of terrified chocolate orbs. His lip curled into a derisive scowl.

"He's a youkai."

TBC

* * *

So…what do you think?


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Odyssey

Disclaimer: see first chapter

AN: School is over! Unfortunately, that doesn't mean I have more time, since I still have summer camp for two months this year, and I'll probably be busy with summer homework for the rest of the time (which, frankly, is not much). But I'll try to keep writing.

* * *

Chapter Two: Convergence

* * *

"Eh!" Yamamoto's mouth opened into a surprised 'o', and he immediately turned his attention to the boy that had seemed harmless until a second ago.

The boy cringed, looking pathetically like some small furry mammal scared out of its wits in the face of a predator.

Hibari's scowl deepened. More than anything, he hated weak herbivores like this; they weren't any fun even when he crushed him. Not that the fact would deter him from doing so. His tonfa came up again.

"Wait!" Yamamoto's shout stopped him again in his tracks. He looked up, disbelief plainly written on his face. Surely even _this_ idiot would know better than to protect a youkai?

"Are you sure?" Yamamoto's words were spoken with genuine puzzlement, "He doesn't really look like a youkai."

Not even Hibari could think of a suitable response to that, save killing the clueless imbecile and doing the world a favor. The boy, obviously sharing Hibari's incredulity if not his exact sentiments, stared up at Yamamoto with an expression between tentative hope and doubt of his sanity.

Oblivious to both of their stares (and the murderous intent radiating from Hibari), Yamamoto continued, "What's your name, little youkai?"

The boy hesitated before replying in a small voice, "T-Tsuna."

Yamamoto grinned, "Ne, Tsuna, do you want to join us?"

If possible, the boy's brown eyes widened even more until they looked like they were about to pop out. Hibari finally decided that enough was enough.

"Yamamoto Takeshi," he spat out the name in a snarl, "I will bite you to death."

"Ah." Yamamoto looked up and, warned by the _whoosh_ of wind and the glint of steel, narrowly avoided one of Hibari's tonfa. It seemed that he coming to know them quite well. Instinctively, his hand reached towards his katana hilt, but he paused; he didn't really want to hurt anyone, and besides, Hibari wouldn't really…s

The next blow of the tonfa caught Yamamoto directly in his gut, and he doubled over with a surprised 'oof'. Hibari didn't even pause as he swung down again, aiming this time for Yamamoto's head, which, he judged, definitely needed some rearrangement.

What he didn't count on was the third person at the scene. Tsuna, whom Hibari had considered a weak youkai with barely enough youki to light a candle and hardly enough to pique his interest, suddenly _moved_.

He flung himself forwards, as if to intercept the blow. And he moved _fast_, certainly faster than Hibari had anticipated.

"Wait, you can't—" the boy was shouting, but he didn't finish before—

The bar of cold steel connected with a resounding _crack!_ with Tsuna's head. A second later, Tsuna was sprawled out unconscious on the ground, a lump forming on his head where the tonfa had hit.

Yamamoto and Hibari froze, staring at the body, the fight forgotton.

"Hn." Hibari was the first to speak, giving the boy a look of disdain, "He ruined the mood." With that statement, he turned to leave, his tonfas disappearing into his cloak.

"Wait, Hibari!" Yamamoto called to his receding back, "We can't just leave him here."

"…I have no interest in weak herbivores."

"Ah, then I guess then I guess I'll have to take you." Yamamoto said to the unconscious boy. He leaned down and swung the body over his shoulder, slightly taken aback by the light weight; he would have thought a boy Tsuna's age would weigh more.

Shrugging it off, he hurried after Hibari down the road.

* * *

Tsuna woke to a pounding migraine, as if a crazy, silver-haired bomber was going stir-crazy on the inside of his head. He gave a soft groan and tried to open his eyes. It was then that he realized that he was not exactly on the ground, but rather suspended on something that felt hard and bony and rocking rhythmically, as if he were on a boat. The only things he could see from wherever he was, were the road—which had widened a little and now resembled something made by human feet instead of an animal trail—and what appeared to be a grey expanse of cloth, possibly a cloak.

These observations sent a jolt of alarm through him, and he scanned his memory for what exactly had happened. He remembered the wolf, the chase through the forest, and then crashing into…

Oh.

Tsuna's groan upon waking had not gone unnoticed, though, and he soon felt the bony surface beneath him shift. The next thing he knew, he was back on his feet, which, albeit a bit unsteady, supported him just fine.

"So you finally woke up!"

Tsuna looked up to meet the brown eyes of the swordsman—Yamamoto, he remembered— beaming at him happily. "I apologize in place of Hibari for what happened. He's not really good with people, you see, so you can't really blame him for being so cold." Yamamoto explained.

_That's not his problem!_ Tsuna thought to himself, still amazed at how clueless this person was, but nodded, not wanting to offend. He had experienced firsthand how hard Hibari could hit.

Speaking of the exorcist…

The boy looked around jumpily and saw that Hibari was still present, albeit a considerable distance in front of them and walking steadily without looking back, a fact for which Tsuna was immensely grateful. There was a blob of yellow—a bird, he realized after a long squint—firmly ensconced in the exorcist's dark locks, a strange picture indeed for such a cold person.

"So, how do you feel now?" Yamamoto asked, looking slightly concerned at Tsuna's lack of response.

"I-I'm fine." Tsuna muttered. It was true that his head still throbbed, and there was a lump in the place where Hibari's tonfa had hit which would be sore for days to come, but he did not feel faint, and he had regained his balance. "I think I can walk."

"Good!" Yamamoto's worry was wiped away as quickly as it had appeared, and his expression returned to the look of interest, "Ne, Tsuna, what were you doing in this forest?"

"Um…" a guilty look crept onto the boy's face, "I ran away from home." He admitted.

"Eh!" Yamamoto's eyes widened in surprise, then creased into a smile. "You really are a child, Tsuna!" he laughed.

Despite the sharpness of Yamamoto's katana, Tsuna was still indignant, "It was a good idea!" he protested. "I didn't know I would run into the wolf youkai."

"But the forest is filled with youkai!" Yamamoto exclaimed, raising his eyebrows, "You should have chosen a safer rout."

Tsuna sighed, and nodded, "I suppose."

Yamamoto, as if sensing his resignation, slung a friendly arm over his shoulder, "Well, think of it this way, if you had gone a different way, you wouldn't have met us. We're companions now, so you don't have to worry about any more youkai chasing you." He reassured his new friend.

Tsuna gave a tentative nod, a slow smile forming on his lips. For some reason, he felt a connection with the cheerful, clueless swordsman, as if they had known each other for a long time, instead of having met recently. Maybe it was the friendly, unassuming aura that Yamamoto exuded, but Tsuna immediately felt close to him. Even though he knew that the arm slung over his shoulder had more than enough strength to snap him in half, he felt surprisingly safe. Yamamoto was someone that he could trust.

"Where are we going?" Tsuna asked.

"About that…" Yamamoto grinned sheepishly, "I really don't know."

"EH!" Tsuna exclaimed, "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's hard to explain…" Yamamoto rubbed the back of his head, a thoughtful expression crossing his face. "You could say that Hibari and I are searching for the same thing. But where it is…we have no clue."

Tsuna stayed silent, taking note of the subtle tightening of Yamamoto's jaw, the flash of steely determination that passed through his eyes. He glanced at Hibari, who seemed to have been oblivious to everything they said, though Tsuna seriously doubted such was the case. He walked with a cool assurance to his posture, so different from Yamamoto's relaxed slouch. It was hard to imagine two people so radically different seeking the same thing. Whatever it was the two of them were searching for, it was no doubt extremely important to them.

_I wonder what it's like to have such resolve._ Tsuna mused.

"Kokuyo."

Both Tsuna and Yamamoto were startled by the sound of Hibari's cold drawl drifting back to them from ahead.

"Sorry?" Yamamoto asked, confused.

Hibari did not look back. "We're going to Kokuyo."

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

"Ninth! Let me see the Ninth!"

In the high-ceilinged, spacious corridors of a certain large mansion, a silver-haired teen pounded near-desperately on a pair of ornately-carved double doors. His fists made only dull thumps as the hit the heavy wood, but it didn't seem to deter him. Vivid green eyes blazed with anger.

"Open the fucking door!"

For all his blows, the doors did not budge.

"I swear, if you don't open the door this instant I'll—"

"You'll do what, Gokudera?"

The voice was soft, but it cut through the noise like a knife. Gokudera froze. A tiny knee-high door cleverly affixed in the larger one opened just enough to let someone out. Someone whose voice he recognized very well.

Gokudera looked down and saw, as he expected, the small frame of a child. But no child ever had the somber look in this one's inscrutable dark eyes, nor the aura that commanded respect, that spoke of mature experience. No human child, at least. If one had to guess, the child seemed even older than the green-eyed raging teen.

"Reborn," the teen acknowledged, a faint trace of a growl still tainting his voice. "Let me talk to the Ninth."

"He's busy now." The child called Reborn replied casually. "Whatever you want, take it up with me."

"Damnit, Reborn! The Tenth has been missing for a week now!" Gokudera finally exploded. "And the Ninth hasn't done a single thing about that! How can he just expect us to go on as if nothing's changed! Fuck, doesn't _anyone_ care about what's happened to Tsuna?"

Reborn did not flinch, nor did his expression alter in the slightest, "Dame-Tsuna merely ran away for a few days." He said dismissively, "He'll come crying back in a while."

"He's been gone for _a week_! And entire fucking week!" Gokudera was inches from tearing at his hair in frustration.

A crease appeared between Reborn's eyebrows, the faintest hint of a frown. "If you're so concerned, then go look for him, idiot. The Ninth can't be bothered right now."

And with that terse statement of dismissal, the child turned back and disappeared into the room.

Gokudera stood silently for a few seconds, his eyes hidden, then slammed his fist against the wall. The more fragile surface splintered under his punch, leaving shards of wood in his knuckles. He showed no sign of noticing.

"Fuck all of you." He said quietly, through teeth clenched so tight his jaw ached. "I'm going to find him."

* * *

_Beyond the doors…_

The white-haired man behind the large wooden desk looked up as Reborn entered. His face was handsome once, but it had been worn and wrinkled by the waves of time, and currently it was drawn into an expression of concern as he sent a questioning gaze towards the child. The doors were thick, but not thick enough to block out the Gokudera's shouts, nor the deafening silence that followed Reborn's reemergence.

"He will go." Reborn answered the unasked inquiry. A slight smirk, full of a cat's self-satisfaction, found its way onto the childish face. "I am sure of it."

The old man sighed, an exhalation of mixed emotion, much of which was something between regret and resignation. "It has started, then?"

Reborn nodded, his own face serious as well.

"I only wish…if only we had more time! Tsuna is far from ready."

At this, Reborn's smirk surfaced again, "I would not worry too much about that, Timoteo." He murmured, a hint of a laugh in his too-mature voice, "That dame-Tsuna can be surprisingly strong when you least expect it."

Timoteo's expression of worry softened, "Then I pray it will be so this time."

* * *

(1) Youki is the aura that youkai give off (sorta like reiatsu from Bleach), that sets them apart from humans.


End file.
